Slovakia Facts.

One of the most amazing cuisine can be found in Slovakia from crisp salads to the perfect lamb stew Moreover, the visit in this country can be 110% complete through, First, visiting the different amazing cities such as Bratislava, the Tatas and Liptov and the Kosice where the historic St. Elisabeth Cathedral is found. Second, feel relaxed through experiencing the Health Spa Piestany with their famous healing mud ready to wash those tired muscles away and lastly the UNESCO sites that survived centuries of wear and tear. The combination of Gothic and Renaissance styles is something that you don’t see every day.

Important and Interesting Facts about Slovakia

Slovakia is a sovereign state in Central Europe.

The borders of the Slovak Republic have a total length of 1,672 km

The air distance from Slovakia to Rijeka (Adriatic Sea) is 361 km, to Gdansk (Baltic Sea) 440 km and to Constanza (Black Sea) 686 km.

The highest point in the Slovak Republic is the summit of Gerlachovský štít in the High Tatra mountains (2 655 m a.s.l.).

The lowest point in Slovakia is situated in the municipality of Klin nad Bodrogom (94 m a.s.l.).

The capital of Slovakia is Bratislava, which is also the largest city in the country.

The northernmost place of Slovakia is Babia hora (village Oravská Polhora, district of Námestovo).

The Danube, the longest river in Europe, runs through Slovakia over 22 km.

Slovakia has rugged mountains, rich in mineral resources, with vast forests and pastures.

The Carpathian Mountains dominate the topography of Slovakia, with lowland areas in the southern region.

Slovakia is about twice the size of the state of Maryland.

Cool, Funny, and Fun Facts about Slovakia

The vowel ó in Slovak is only found in borrowed or foreign words.

Slovakia has more than 4.000 caves and caverns under its mountains, but only 12 of them are open for public.

There are several hundred mineral and thermal springs and more than twenty spas in Slovakia. Thousands of visitors from around the world each year utilize these resources for various health ailments.

Also, dozens of castles dot the country. Once used as residences for royalty, then later as places of refuge in times of war, many of them are today used as educational, social, or recreation centers, house museums, and gift shops.

Slovakia is a land of music, dance and song. No visitor can or should resist and opportunity to attend one of the hundreds of festivals or ethnic folk ensemble performances given each year. This is a song or dance for nearly every facet of life for the Slovak.

Slovakia is very far from the sea. That’s why in summer, everybody travels many miles to the south of Europe for holiday!

Banska Stiavnica’ is the town of silver. People built giant mines there and they used to be very rich. Even today, the town looks exactly the same as a long time ago! Walking through the streets feels like stepping into a fairy tale

According to a chromosomal study conducted in 2009, of all the non-Gypsy populations in the world, Slovaks have the highest percentage of Romani or gypsy genes.

The caves in Slovakia are so unusual that the UNESCO has named a large number of them as “World Heritage Sites”. The rarest flowerlike formations called Aragonite formations can be seen here.

Bratislava is nothing like the rest of Slovakia in terms of Gross Domestic Product. It’s about three times higher than throughout the rest of the country and is one of the highest in the whole of Eastern Europe at a wealthy 30% above EU average.

The Slovak Republic capital has seen many names over the years, often dependent on who is calling speaking about it. Pressburg is one that pops up a lot and in many English and German texts this is still prominent.

Although their history dates back further, most Slovaks of the past millennium seem to prefer to trace their roots to the ninth century and the apostolic work of Saints Cyril and Methodius.

Historical and Cultural Facts about Slovakia

In 1848, Slovakia made its first serious attempt at separation from Hungary.

In 1861, Bishop Stefan Moyses of Banska Bystrica submitted a “Memorandum of the Slovak Nation,” which demanded rights for the Slovak people and their language. A claim was also made for territorial rights within Hungary.

The independent Slovak republic was formed on 1 January 1993 (The constitution of the Slovak Republic was signed on 1 September 1992).

The first Slavs settled in present day Slovakia around the 5th century AD.

Slovak people are mostly of Slavic descent, but many people can also claim partial Hungarian, German or Vlachs (Romanian) ancestry, due to the numerous migrations between the 11th and 15th centuries, and as a result of the country’s 500 years within the Austrian Empire, as part of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Slovak and Czech languages are mutually intelligible to people accustomed to the other language’s pronuciation, particularily people who have lived at the time of Czechoslovakia (the country split in 1993) .

Slovakia adopted the Euro as its currency on January 1st, 2009.

Slovak women marry the youngest (average 24 years old) within the European Union, along with Lithuanian and Polish women.

Slovak national food speciality is made of sheep cheese and its trademark is registered within the European Union. It can be produced only in Slovakia and it is distributed under the name “slovenska bryndza”.

The cultural and artistic currents found in Slovakia have strongly prevailed through the centuries to the present day. The people are known for their wood-carving, ceramics, crystal and glass works, and beautifully handcrafted embroidered articles such as tablecloths, napkins, doilies, etc.

The Slovaks are a hard-working, culture-loving, family-oriented, God-fearing people, determined to pass a heritage on to their children’s children. Through prayer, toil and strife, they have beaten the odds.

The most popular sports in Slovakia are ice hockey and soccer. Baseball and football are seen as very exotic!